Faction Selection Guide
Faction Overviews
(Now updated for Season 2!)
I've seen the question asked plenty of times before by players just jumping into the game asking what faction is right for them. Hopefully, this post can provide single place (with help from some other content creators!) to begin to answer that question by providing a quick summary of each faction.
First & foremost, I'd always recommend going with the faction that calls to you most, for whatever the reason may be - as you'll have the most fun playing with units, & especially characters, that interest you. That said, if you care more for the game than the lore or if a playstyle really does or does not fit your style, hopefully this article can help you realize that before you go all-in! Finally, I'd also recommend downloading the game's app, War Council, where you can review every unit, commander, attachment, etc., currently released to really dive deep into whatever faction is calling your name.
The Factions & their Styles (A Quick & Dirty Summary):
- Free Folk - Horde army; overwhelm them with tons of cheap units; also monsters (but no Neutrals)
- Martell - Lightly armored & maneuverable; high on control & de-buffing your enemy; also poison
- Nights Watch - Small number of elite units; buff over time with permanent cards; also war machines
- Lannister - Low on offense; high on control & panic effects
- Targaryen - Strike fast & hard with a cavalry-heavy, maneuverable army; also dragons
- Stark - Aggressive army; most units get stronger as they lose ranks; also wolves
- Baratheon - High armor, slow movement; hold your ground to grind out victory; Faction split (they don't like each other, & you can't make them fight together):
- Stannis - Focus on grind/morale/panic
- Renly - Focus on charging/healing
- Greyjoy - Harder to kill than they seem like they should be; buff over time with their pillage mechanic
- Neutral - Best used in other factions
Faction Breakdowns
Free Folk
The Free Folk were once identified almost synonymously with Mance Commander & Raiders. However, now that “The King is Dead!” (see Season 2 updates) they can be taken many different directions between Giants, Mammoths, Chariots, Skinchangers, etc. Being a horde army, their average list usually consists of at least 5 combat units (though often up to 8) and 3 NCU's (& it doesn't come as much of a surprise, that they perform best with more activations).
Note in their Tactics deck the ability to bring on even more units mid-game with The Endless Horde (though recently changed so it only triggers when the unit you place it on dies)!
Nights Watch
The Nights Watch are a small but fierce fighting force. Their typical army is made up of 4 or 5 Combat Units and 2 or 3 NCU's. Their cards are each the length of a short novel, but what most of them come down to is that you get one effect when you play them, then another ongoing effect on that unit for the rest of the game (which can add up to some powerful units late game)!
Jon Snow & Ghost, Cold Hands, Qhorin Halfhand, & Aemon Targaryen are all well known names who happen to also be powerful forces to be reckoned with, in some cases on the field of battle (like Jon Snow) & in others influencing it via the Tactics Board (like Aemon).
Lannister
The Lannisters like to simultaneously exert their power on the political field (read: Tactics Board) and the battlefield. As such, they tend to fare best when they bring a full suite of 3 NCU's. Beyond that though, Lannisters (along with Baratheons & Martells) generally perform equally well with 4 or 5 Combat Units. You can note that many of the Lannister Tactics Cards (and even some of their combat units) depend on Crown and/or Wealth control to get their maximum value, so it is no coincidence that 3 NCU's is the mainstay in their performance.
Counterplot is probably the faction's most defining card - eternally frustrating opponents when their big combo gets ruined (but almost equally frustrating the Lannister player sometimes too, when the card fails to go off).
For those looking to jump into Lannister, Small Council Radio has an excellent episode providing a Buyer's Guide to future Lions (updated for Season 2):
Extra Shots New Lannister Buyers Guide
Baratheon
The Baratheons are almost 2 factions in one, but they can select from a common core of base troops from Storms End like the slow & tanky Wardens and the (well...also slow & tanky, actually - but this time on horses!) Champions of the Stag.
Renly is Boisterous and Bold, defined largely by the forces of Highgarden who have rallied to support him, all of whom currently would rather give a charge than receive one. They have some powerful commanders & NCU's at their disposal & have tools to leverage the "neutral" Baratheon units, as well.
Stannis is stubborn and strong and has surrounded himself (if only begrudgingly) with the faith of R'Hllor. He brings fearsome zealots to the field like the Queensmen, Faithful, and Lightbringers. Between them and Melisandre's power & Influence, you're as likely to panic your enemies off the battlefield as you are to defeat them in combat.
Much like the Lannisters, Baratheon performs equally well with 4 or 5 combat units alongside 3 NCU's. Also much like Lannister, Baratheon Tactics Cards & abilities benefit from controlling the Crown &, in Baratheon's case, the Letters. Baratheon also has the ability to perform nearly as well with some more niche army builds, like those consisting of only 4 super-powerful Combat Units & 2 NCU's.
Martell
The newest faction didn’t waste any time making a splash in the rankings. (Is this a sign of things to come when Doran Martell finally makes his move in Westeros?)
Martell struggles to reach 8 activations with their current suite of releases. With some very strong NCU's in their initial release & several strong Cavalry options (between in-faction & neutrals), 4 combat units & 3 NCU builds are their top performer so far. While Martell lacks somewhat in combat prowess (the majority of their troops are average on both offense & defense – though Obara & some Starfall Knights may make you question that assertion), they make-up for it by de-buffing their enemies with cards in their Tactics Deck that attach to their enemies to provide negative benefits that get worse as the game goes on &, in the case of a few different characters, even poison enemy units AND NCU's.
Doran Martell as an NCU brings a whole new aspect to the game between bringing the Water Gardens Tactics Zone & his game-within-a-game to score extra VP's in the later rounds. While probably the most divisive new NCU in the game, love or hate his mechanic, it's hard to argue that it's entirely on-theme for the methodical & plotting Prince of Sunspear. The best thing I can recommend to his would-be opponents is to study his NCU card & have a game plan before you even put troops on the table, because trying to figure out how to beat him on the fly may lead to frustration & defeat. (Hint: consider using Littlefinger - though he's not the only way.)
Greyjoy
The Greyjoy's are stubborn, & in that way they play true to their lore. In general, the Greyjoys are low armor & low morale, & yet they just don't die! Their namesake card, What Is Dead May Never Die, is the epitome of this faction's tenacity to stick around, but you can see it through all facets of their faction with access to a large amount of healing. If their units can stick around long enough, they can cause headaches with their powered-up Pillage mechanics, which allow their units to generally perform above their points class would otherwise allow.
Greyjoy are played overwhelmingly with 5 combat units & 3 NCU's & they do tend to perform best that way. They do this with Bowmen & Drowned Men carrying most of the weight at 4 points each, allowing the remainder of the army to select a few more elite units.
Targaryen
The Targaryens, as led by Daenerys Targaryen, are less a true Targaryen army & more a melding pot of different groups & cultures she's absorbed into her cause to reclaim the Iron Throne. As such, you can bring an army of mounted Dothraki, ranks of disciplined Unsullied, hired mercenaries like the Stormcrows (which most factions can do, but Targaryen doesn't have to let them cut into their Neutral points allotment), & Dragons & more to support any & all of them.
Targaryen currently tends to bring 4 combat unit & 3 NCU lists. Targaryen can mix up the standard formula a bit with 2 different 3 point units to select from though, between a solo rider Jorah Mormont & bands of untrained Freed Men, who act best as a speed bump than an actual offensive weapon to be used. All Factions are defined by their Tactics Deck, but Targaryen goes a step further in that each commander replaces one of their base Tactics Cards with a 4th Commander Card.
Stark
The Starks are a compilation of their different Northern Bannerman, rallied to support the North & their new crowned king. As such, the Starks can field a larger variety of House Affiliations than any other factions - including Mormont, Umber, Crannog, Karstark, & Tully (& Bolton, if you want to be technical - though they're more than ready to jump ship to any other faction who will have them). While each tend to perform in slightly different ways, they often share a common mechanic of becoming more lethal (or at least the potential to be more lethal) as they lose ranks (the opposite of practically all other units in the game). A Stark player will frequently find themselves dancing on the knife's edge of hanging on by their last few wounds to defeat their opponent before they are destroyed themselves.
Stark lists most commonly bring 5 combat units & 2 NCU's, but actually perform best if they can increase that to 5 or even 6 combat units while maintaining 3 NCU's. The 8 activation lists will tend to bring at least one workhorse unit to do their heavy lifting for this aggressive faction, while the 9 activation builds most often tend toward much less combative & more elusive playstyles.
Neutral
While I (& many others in the game) joke that the Neutrals are best when utilized in other Factions' armies, they can also be brought as a force of their own. Neutrals currently have a limited (though growing) pool of combat units, NCU's, & especially Commanders. There are only 4 Commander options currently (& of those, many would tell you that the 2 Bolton Commanders are by far the most viable options).
With such limited resources from which to draft an army, creating & piloting a Neutral army can be a challenge & is often not recommended to someone just getting into the game (besides the fact that a Starter Box does not exist for Neutrals – YET). However, if you absolutely love the Mummers, Stormcrows, or Golden Company, a pure Neutral Army is an option that can certainly be piloted to victory with the proper skill & patience. (If you love the Boltons, hang tight as we wait for more details on the soon to be released Bolton faction though.)
Neutrals are actually nearly incapable of achieving an 8 activation build, & so perform best with the fairly standard template across multiple factions of 4 combat units & 3 NCU's – even though they’re paying a premium for most of those NCU’s.
(Note: I will add links to additional Buyer's Guides from Small Council Radio as they become available.)
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